THESPIANS TO PRESENT CAPTIVATING NEW COMEDY NOVEMBER 7-16

Throw on your MacIntoshes and grab your L.L. Bean boots because next month the Thurmont Thespians are taking you to Maine…well almost. This fresh play is called “Almost, Maine” written by Tony-award winning actor John Cariani and it will be presented Fri-Sat-Sun for two weekends, November 7-9 and 14-16 at the American Legion Auditorium at 8 Park Place in downtown Thurmont. The Friday-Saturday performances begin at 8:00PM and the two Sunday matinees begin at 2:00PM. There will be one Dinner Theater performance featuring shrimp and fried chicken entrees with a full course meal with cash bar on Saturday, November 15 at 6:30PM. Early reservations for the dinner theatre especially and all performances can be made by calling Mrs. Urian at (301) 271-7613. Regular performance tickets are $15 which includes free desserts or snacks at intermission. The November 15 dinner theater performance tickets are $30.00.

In a series of 10-minute vignettes, couples fall in and out of love in rapid tumbles of unlikely pairings. They kiss, they fight, they reunite. Almost, Maine is full of surprises, every scene wending its way toward some smart little twisteroo that's wholly unexpected and utterly enchanting. Directed by veteran Thespian Spence Watson, this play flirts and teases. It's as if we're being romanced by the playwright too, as we watch love envelop the eccentric residents of a snowy little corner of rural New England. Soon we're under its spell, wrapped in a wooly midwinter night's dream. The characters in Almost, Maine came from John Cariani’s memories of growing up in tiny Presque Isle, Maine, a remote town the size of Thurmont. He takes a simple idea—how to create onstage that split second between two people when love begins or ends—and explores it in unpredictable ways that evoke laughs, tears and gasps of wonder.

Eleven area actors portray all 18 characters in 11 loosely connected stories all taking place on a Friday night in mid-January. They're playing a collection of love-starved small-town nobodies, the sort of down-to-earth flannel-wearers who work at lumber mills, enjoy bowling and ice fishing, and swig their Bud straight out of the bottle. Thurmont natives Luke Greffen and Scott Ortiz team up as best buds who hilariously compete for the title “Baddest Date-guy of all time.” Luke also teams up with newcomer Megan Blascovich in what it feels like to get whacked with an ironing board and fall in love. Bill Collins of Thurmont and Joan Crooks of Westminster explore the inner workings of her heart while Lori White and Justin Hockley of Gettysburg take a snowmobile trip to new love. Paul Smaldone of Emmitsburg and Christine Miller of Frederick wrestle with the giving and taking of love during an eleven year courtship and Jerry Miranda of Hagerstown wonders if his tragic new tattoo will mark him a loser for life. Larry Doucette of Hagerstown rounds out the cast as the man who lost hope when the girl he proposed to left town without giving him an answer.